Pages

7 ¶And he put forth a parable to those which were
bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,

8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not
down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of
him;

9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee,
Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the
lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend,
go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at
meat with thee.

11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and
he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 14:7-11)

This parable of Jesus’s has no explanation
attached, which probably means that it was so plain and clear to those it was
given to that it seemed to need no explanation.It says humble yourself so that you don’t get humiliated
when someone is preferred and honored above you.If it weren’t that the text tells us that Jesus was speaking
a parable, we probably wouldn’t know it as a parable.We’d think it was just a commandment.

But I found there are still some things to learn from this
parable if we look at it from an eternal perspective.The invitation to the wedding is the invitation to eternal
life and membership in God’s kingdom.It seems God’s kingdom has higher and lower rooms.The host is Christ Himself.It seems that there may be some jockeying
for the “good spots” before the host comes and the celebration starts.

When Christ speaks of the host moving guests higher or lower
between the rooms, He speaks of the final judgment when every man’s works will
be known and rewarded according to whether they are good or evil.These guests at the wedding feast are
good; they are the ones who listened to the invitation.(Later in the same chapter Christ will give
the parable about those who refuse the invitation to the wedding feast.)But the guests at this wedding feast
are sorted according to the honor they are worthy of (which we can surmise
comes from the faithfulness they demonstrated) and each receives honor
accordingly.

So we see plainly how presumptuous it would be to expect the
highest honors at the very beginning for just having responded to the
invitation.We really don’t know
how much honor we are worthy of or how to rate our claims in comparison to each
other.The host hasn’t arrived
yet, and the host is the one best able to tell the degree to which each person
is worthy of honor.We just
know we will receive honor, so it is best to rate your claims low at the
beginning.

From this perspective, we learn that it is best for us not
to exalt ourselves for our faithfulness, since there may always be someone else
who rates more faithful than us.I
personally have learned not to underestimate the faithfulness of my fellow
Saints.When I begin to overestimate
my faithfulness, it doesn’t take long before I learn the story of someone else
who has faithfully made it through tribulations I never dreamed existed.Then I feel like saying, “Well, you’re
in a higher room than me..” and I want to hide my face in shame.

I have faith that if we avoid exalting ourselves, at some
point when the Lord comes, He will take us higher.Will we be in the highest room with the greatest
honors?That’s an interesting
question, and it is particularly pertinent to us as Latter-day Saints,
especially since we have a revelation to Joseph Smith in D&C 131 that we
must enter into the covenant of eternal marriage to obtain the highest degree
of the celestial kingdom.Those of
us who have married in the temple are liable to be complacent about our place
in the celestial kingdom, but I leave it to you to decide whether humility is
necessary for a good marriage relationship or not.

Humility is really hard to define, so I thought I’d include
some quotations from BrainyQuote
on humility that I find instructive.

True humility is intelligent self respect which keeps us
from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves. It makes us modest by
reminding us how far we have come short of what we can be. (Ralph W.
Sockman)

Humility is nothing else but a right judgment of
ourselves.(William Law)

Judge yourself; if you do that you will not be judged by
God, as St. Paul says. But it must be a real sense of your own sinfulness, not
an artificial humility.(Johannes
Tauler)

Assuredly, Loving Souls, you should go to God with all
humility and respect, humbling yourselves in His presence, especially when you
remember your past ingratitude and sins.(Alphonsus
Liguori)

In such a state, humility is the virtue of men, and their
only defense; to walk humbly with God, never doubting, whatever befall, that
His will is good, and that His law is right.(Paul Elmer
More)

To be a preacher requires two apparently contradictory qualities:
confidence and humility. (Timothy
Radcliffe)

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of
yourself less.(Rick Warren)

There is no respect for others without humility in one's
self.(Henri
Frederic Amiel)

Humility is attentive patience.(Simone Weil)

A sarcastic person has a superiority complex that can be
cured only by the honesty of humility. (Lawrence G.
Lovasik)

Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility.
It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.(Jane Austen)

The proud man can learn humility, but he will be proud of
it. (Mignon
McLaughlin)

Tell him, on the contrary, that he needs, in the interest of
his own happiness, to walk in the path of humility and self-control, and he
will be indifferent, or even actively resentful. (Irving
Babbitt)

When someone saves your life and gives you life, there's
gratitude, humility; there's a time you've been so blessed you realize you've
been given another chance at life that maybe you did or didn't deserve. (Pat Summerall)

And when our baby stirs and struggles to be born it compels
humility: what we began is now its own. (Margaret Mead)

Humility is
really important because it keeps you fresh and new.(Steven Tyler)

Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our
minds for all the possible changes of life. (George Arliss)

If we learn not humility, we learn nothing. (John Jewel)

The job is to ask questions-it always was-and to ask them as
inexorably as I can. And to face the absence of precise answers with a certain
humility.(Arthur Miller)

Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of
humility in the domain of thought. (Simone Weil)

Fullness of knowledge always means some understanding of the
depths of our ignorance; and that is always conducive to humility and
reverence. (Robert
Millikan)

If one takes pride in one's craft, you won't let a good
thing die. Risking it through not pushing hard enough is not a humility.(Paul Keating)

I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his
humility.(John Ruskin)

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives
acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his
friends.(Dwight D.
Eisenhower)

1 comments:

I have learned, as others before have, that if I don't humble myself, God will humble me and it won't be pretty. Pride is one of the most stubborn of my sins. I hope I can conquer it before my time on earth runs out.Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and so many good thoughts from others.

Recent Comments

About Me

Michaela Stephens

Arizona, United States

I'm a happily married 32-year old who switched from Electronic Engineering Technology to Literature, Writing, and Film.
I worked for 3 years at ASU as a writing tutor and have over 400 sessions worth of experience helping people with their writing.
I'm the oldest of seven children (5 boys, 2 girls)
I'm a bit of a neat freak and an undeniable bookworm.

Disclaimer

http://scriptoriumblogorium.blogspot.com/ is a website with no official affiliation to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed here are those of the individual author and do not necessarily represent the position of the LDS Church. Likewise, the blogs linked to from this site do not necessarily represent the views of Scriptorium Blogorium or its owner.

If you want to opt out of Google Analytic’s advertising features, you can go here [https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/] and download an extension for your browser.

Commenting Policy: Please use respectful language, with no profanity or obscenity. Play nice, don't fight. Repetitious comments will be deleted. Comments advertising anything unrelated to the subject of the parent post will be deleted. Comments linking to offensive websites will be deleted.